Chris Rider · ES 616 Equity Analytics
University of Michigan · Ross School of Business
riderci@umich.edu
Interactive teaching tools

SimulatorIndex

Eight browser-based simulators that turn equity-analytics and decision cases into things you can move a slider on — each launchable in one click.

08Simulators
04Teaching cases
01Framework hub
Framework hub 01

Equity Analytics

The conceptual home base for the course. Presents the signature 2×2 — Process (Allocations × Valuations) crossed with Behavior (Differential Treatment × Disparate Impact) — as a clickable matrix, plus the seven-step analytics workflow and the recurring maxims that every case simulator plugs into.

2×2 frameworkDGP workflowSimpson's paradox
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Case simulator 02

AutoNow

A $200M cost cut at a 30,598-employee auto-parts firm. Pick among seven identity-neutral downsizing criteria and watch each one's adverse impact by race and gender: every option hits the target, none violates the four-fifths rule, and each harms a different protected group. An "Option 8" coin flip sets the zero-impact benchmark.

Adverse impact4/5ths ruleTitle VII
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Case simulator 03

COMPAS

Recidivism risk scores on the ProPublica data (N = 7,214). Slide the classification threshold and toggle group-specific cutoffs to see false-positive and false-negative rates diverge by race despite near-identical AUC — landing on Chouldechova's impossibility theorem: calibration, equal FPR, and equal FNR cannot all hold when base rates differ.

Algorithmic fairnessROC / AUCImpossibility theorem
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Case simulator 04

UC Oceanview

Cutting an admit class from 8,000 to 5,200 under Prop 209 and SFFA v. Harvard. Each identity-neutral removal criterion lands in a 2×2 of mechanism versus who bears the harm — surfacing the convergence question, negative action against Asian admits, and the denominator move that quietly shifts the cost.

AdmissionsNegative actionDisparate impact
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Case simulator 05

Zenkai

A LASSO-penalized hiring model advancing the top 25% of applicants (N = 2,500). Build your own specification, then toggle the outcome variable between "predict hired" and "predict aptitude": identical accuracy (AUC = 0.849) and an identity-blind feature set produce dramatically different racial composition — because choosing the outcome is choosing what the model is for.

LASSOOutcome choiceProxy bias
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Marketing analytics 06

Espresso Martini

Why Ketel One's 21–35 urban-professional target misses. Add variable blocks to a purchase model and watch community membership out-predict every demographic block — the same 42-year-old suburban male is a Third Wave Coffee Devotee (79% purchase) or a Convenience Shopper (11%) depending on which segment he belongs to.

Variance decompositionSegmentationPsychographics
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Marketing analytics 07

The Fleece Question

A $149 Patagonia Better Sweater versus a $99 North Face, on 10,000 simulated buyers. Demonstrates the "fanning effect": at low income all cultural communities converge, but at high income a $70 willingness-to-pay gap opens. Culture sets the direction of the premium; income sets how far that identity can express itself.

Willingness-to-payInteraction effectsCulture × income
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Teaching interactive 08

Simpson's Paradox

A stylized four-unit employer audits pay across 5,000 people and finds no significant gender gap. Disaggregate and two units appear with large gaps pointing opposite ways. A reweighting lab then changes only headcounts — no one's pay — and flips the sign of the headline number. Open to visiting instructors, with the generating parameters published and a link to the companion case.

Aggregation biasDisaggregationOpen to instructors
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